Courtney Sertdemir joined us as
an Internal Recruiter 10 months ago and here, our little ray of “sunshine”
explains her journey.
I think it was about two years
into my recruitment career, when I was starting to feel more established and
confident in my role that I began considering the move into internal
recruitment, or as agency recruiters call it, moving to the “dark side”.
More and more I started to wonder
about the people I spoke to on the phone, what exactly were Talent Acquisition
specialists or Internal Recruiters accountable for? Was their day just like
mine? Did they have as many vacancies to fill? Was there any difference working
internally? Did they have strict KPI’s?
So I started to look around.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job but thought why not see what’s out there!
So, like every semi passive/ semi active candidate I’ve ever met with, I tried
my luck and became one too.
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Courtney climbing the corporate ladder! |
To start off, it’s a tough gig
trying to get an internal role, why? Because just like me there are plenty of agency
recruiters thinking the same thing about their career. So, you’re now competing
against every other agency recruiter out there. I mean, you already vie for
jobs and candidates in the market but now its recruiter against recruiter on
the same catwalk trying to be “internals next top model.”
Now, I know what people think
about agency recruiters going internal, we are over it; over the sales targets,
KPI’s and cold calls. Yes, for some this is the case but for me, I enjoyed all those
things, I just didn’t enjoy sending out non relevant resumes just to meet
my quota, I didn’t enjoy doing whatever it takes to get a placement across the
line, even if it challenged your own ethics. Unlike some of my peers, I didn’t see
candidates as a dollar sign.
What I did want was to be a brand
ambassador, a true subject matter expert. Why work 20 roles with multiple clients
when I can work 20 jobs with one brand. You start to want to make a difference
on a more personal level, you become an integral part of the organisation, believing
in what you do and why you do it.
So, eventually your times comes
and you land your internal dream job. Its everything you had hoped it would be
and nothing like you thought it would be! For me I think the hardest thing to
get used to was the silence - no radio, no bell rings and no consultants yelling
over each other on the phone. Because that’s all we really did at the agency,
we lived on the phone – sales, sales, sales.
You start to learn new things
too; you recruit for roles you have never recruited for before – even ones you
never knew existed! You have meetings with GM’s, you start truly caring about
the commercial elements of running a successful business, like strategy and
team member on boarding. You learn more about HR processes and work force
planning.
But ultimately I got what I
really wanted, a chance to place people in their dream job, a company culture
to live and breathe, a chance to learn more about how a business operates from
a Support Office point of view, to create long lasting partnerships and to be a
trusted advisor.
So far, it’s been an amazing
journey and I wouldn’t change a thing, except for maybe putting a radio in the
office!
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